10) The New Freshman Who Keeps Catching My Attention
On MT day. The student council officers and upperclassmen who had arrived early at the training center busied themselves preparing to welcome the freshmen. The seniors told Yi-hyeon that his face was the department’s one and only pride and assigned him the role of handing out name tags to the freshmen. When he said he didn’t want to because he was shy around strangers, they stuck him with a friendly, easygoing power classmate to help him out.
Sitting at a table set up in front of the training center, Yi-hyeon was organizing the name tags in alphabetical order so they’d be easy to find when his hand suddenly froze.
[ Korea University College of Arts, Department of Theater and Film
Freshman, Group 5 — Han Jun ]
A name that looked like it might make him cry just from staring at it was neatly printed on a white card. There was no way Han Jun—who was his age—would be enrolling as a freshman, and besides, even though he liked movies, he’d always said he had no interest in film production. Convincing himself it was just someone with the same name, Yi-hyeon let his eyes dim with quiet loneliness as he rubbed his thumb over the name tag bearing the name he missed so much.
So there really is someone else out there with such a pretty name.
He was lost in memories when he heard the soft crunch of sand being stepped on. Sensing someone carrying a slightly heavy scent stop in front of him, Yi-hyeon wiped the gloomy shadow from his face and lifted his head.
The man standing before him was reflected perfectly in Yi-hyeon’s unusually large eyes.
“That’s my name tag.”
Even though the black cap was pulled low over his eyes and he was wearing a mask, the aura and the voice were unmistakably familiar. Yi-hyeon tried to deny what was happening right in front of him—telling himself it couldn’t be—but the voice and face were so painfully clear that tears threatened to spill.
“You’re not going to give it to me, sunbae?”
Han Jun lightly tugged his mask down with his index finger.
As if changing everything from his shower cologne to his skincare wasn’t enough, he’d even put on a heavy, wood-scented perfume he’d never used before.
“Are you giving it to me or not?”
Han Jun grabbed Yi-hyeon’s wrist as he stood there stiffly holding the name tag. Before Yi-hyeon could even process the situation unfolding in front of him, Han Jun’s skin touched his, and Yi-hyeon flinched in shock. Because of that, he missed his chance to shake him off.
“If the guy who’s got such a good nose and sharp ears runs away, how am I supposed to catch him? First thing to change would be the scent, right? And then the sound of your breathing. Oh—and I changed the way I walk too, just so you know.”
“Let go.”
“If I let go, where are you going to run off to this time?”
He didn’t want a reunion.
Yi-hyeon had run away believing that for Han Jun’s happiness, he could carry his own miserable feelings for years—no, for decades if he had to. But the moment he saw Han Jun’s face, that resolve started to crumble. He hated that, and because he didn’t want to show those feelings, he wanted to run.
“I’m asking where you’re going to run this time. Go ahead. Try it. I’ll find you again even if I have to turn the whole world upside down.”
“You saw my DM. So why are you acting like this?”
“Why am I acting like this?”
When Han Jun tightened his grip, Yi-hyeon’s body went slack, collapsing helplessly.
“Because I wasn’t wrong.”
“What are you even talking about……”
“The look on your face when you were in my arms that day—that was real.”
“Han Jun, I think you’re misunderstanding. I—”
I really hate you.
His heart hurt so badly that his voice broke at the end.
“Ah, you still want to lie to me? You’re saying you didn’t miss me? That I never crossed your mind? Then you could’ve at least looked annoyed when you saw my face again.”
“I hated it.”
“No.”
Han Jun yanked Yi-hyeon’s arm and pressed his own face right up against Yi-hyeon’s.
“You looked like you missed me so much you could die.”
“That’s not true. You make me uncomfortable, and honestly—!”
“Sunbae!”
Yi-hyeon, who had been about to spit out cruel lies in a surge of emotion, clamped his mouth shut. Ah-yoon, a junior one year below him, came running over with a bright smile, holding iced Americanos in both hands.
Even as he stepped back and returned Yi-hyeon’s body to its original position, Han Jun kept an iron grip on Yi-hyeon’s wrist, as if he might break it.
“I’m a bit late, right? I’m sorry. There wasn’t a convenience store nearby, so I had to go all the way to a café……”
Ah-yoon’s gaze shifted to Han Jun’s hand clamped tightly around Yi-hyeon’s wrist. Sensing her eyes on him, Han Jun snatched his own name tag out of Yi-hyeon’s hand. At the same time, Ah-yoon cheerfully slipped a coffee into Yi-hyeon’s now-empty hand and smiled sweetly.
“This one’s for you, sunbae!”
Han Jun stared silently at the whiter hand holding the coffee, grasped by a small, pale hand, then quietly furrowed one eyebrow.
“You’re this good-looking, and I’ve never seen you before—so you must be a freshman, right? Nice to meet you. I’m a sophomore, Sung Ah-yoon. Let’s get along well. Oh, did you get the schedule?”
Ah-yoon folded the paper on the table into quarters and handed it to Han Jun. But his gaze was fixed solely on Yi-hyeon’s hand silently holding the coffee.
“Did you get the schedule?”
Ah-yoon asked again.
Han Jun delayed his answer, plucked the coffee straight out of Yi-hyeon’s hand, and then turned his gaze to Ah-yoon.
“Sunbae.”
“Huh?”
“Yi-hyeon sunbae can’t drink Americanos.”
“Huh? Ah…… really?”
“If you want to show someone you like them, you should at least find out what they like before you buy something. I’ll drink this.”
Han Jun turned away.
Holding the coffee in one hand, his familiar back slowly grew more distant. Yi-hyeon, who had been barely managing to stay standing, finally felt both legs give out and wobble.
After the club talent show and the freshmen’s talent show ended, there was about a twenty-minute break. It was time for those who’d been wearing makeup and costumes to change. During that time, the student council officers prepared alcohol and snacks to go along with light games and an introduction session for the freshmen.
Still unsettled all day by Han Jun’s sudden appearance, Yi-hyeon slipped out of the auditorium in the middle of the talent show. He planned to go back to the dorm and lie down for a bit. But the dorm was already hosting a drinking party with several students who, like him, hadn’t attended the talent show.
His head started pounding even worse.
“Sunbae, drink with us!”
“Yeah, Yoon Yi-hyeon. Come on, join us.”
“Ah…… I just came to grab something. I should head back to the auditorium.”
He was so shaken that he almost wanted to get drunk just so he wouldn’t have to think about anything. But getting drunk wasn’t easy for Yi-hyeon either—if he lost control, his ears or tail might pop out. Rummaging through his bag, Yi-hyeon grabbed whatever happened to catch his hand and left the dorm again.
Haah… I’ve got nowhere to go.
Walking along with a gloomy expression, Yi-hyeon mulled things over until he finally had no choice but to choose the emergency exit. When he opened the tightly closed metal door, the acrid stench of cigarette smoke packed inside the stairwell washed over him.
As a beam of light spilled in through the open door, the man crouched on the stairs lifted his bowed head and gently furrowed his brow, as if the light hurt his eyes.
Unfortunately, it was Han Jun.
“Ah, we meet again, sunbae.”
Muttering with slightly slurred pronunciation, Han Jun let out another deep sigh and dropped his head again. He was someone who didn’t even put cigarettes to his lips. Yi-hyeon found his disheveled state unsettling, but just as he was about to turn away, reminding himself of his resolve not to get entangled—
Thud!
Han Jun, who’d been leaning against the railing to sit, lost his balance in his drunken state and slipped. Then, as if he’d run out of strength, he collapsed face-first onto the floor. Startled, Yi-hyeon stepped into the emergency stairwell to help him up—only to bite down hard on his lower lip and step back again.
